Updated: Today's first ski cross quarterfinal heat featured a big crash just before the finish, taking out three skiers and allowing Switzerland's Armin Niederer to cross first. Only second place would join him in the semis and that went to Russian Egor Korotkov as he slid in first... barely.

Diligent Youtube commenters (and yours truly) have the hunch that this is actually a Husky and not a wild wolf, judging by its demeanor and size. That all said, chalk another one up on the "This Olympics is Totally Nuts" column.

Svendsen was a few yards ahead of France's Martin Fourcade down the stretch of the 40-minute race. Right before he crossed the finish line Svendsen held his hands above his head in celebration, allowing Fourcade to almost beat him.

They finished with identical times of 42 minutes, 29.1 seconds. Svendsen won gold after the photo finish showed he finished first by a few feet.